GUI Interface to Test::* scripts

ChrisS has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I would like to be able to see a graphical display of the results of test cases in a Perl script or directory tree of Perl scripts (presumably, these test cases would be developed using Test::More or Test::Simple) -- something akin to Eclipse plug-ins for JUnit tests would be nice.

Ideally, I'd like to generate a red bar next to a description of failing tests, and a green bar next to a description of passing tests for all the tests in a given script or directory structure.

I'd like to know if someone else has already tried this, or get some advice on how more experienced monks would go about this effort. (Specifically, would you suggest some sort of standalone app in Tk or some other GUI framework; or, would you recommend trying to develop a module that becomes part of the Test family?)

Most importantly, would anybody else be interested in an application like this?

Comment on GUI Interface to Test::* scripts

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Re: GUI Interface to Test::* scripts by revdiablo (Prior) on Jun 08, 2005 at 19:08 UTC
I'm not sure about anything for Tk, but I know of Test::TAP::HTMLMatrix, which generates very nice HTML output. It shows failures in red and successes in green, and the layout is nice and readable. (Check out the Pugs smoke results for some sample output.) Maybe you can use it as part of a toolchain, at least.	[reply]
Re: GUI Interface to Test::* scripts by chromatic (Archbishop) on Jun 08, 2005 at 19:55 UTC
If I were to do this, I would start with a Tk or other GUI app that launches tests from with IPC::Run or IPC::Open3 or something and uses Test::Harness::Straps to parse the results into data structures. If it's easy to use and configure, I'd try it.	[reply]
Re^2: GUI Interface to Test::* scripts by ChrisS (Monk) on Jun 09, 2005 at 16:08 UTC
Thanks for the Test::Harness::Straps tip. Is there a particular advantage to using IPC::Run or IPC::Open3 over a straight call to the `analyze_file` method from Test::Harness::Straps? Would using one of them allow for capturing the `STDERR` output for test failures?	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: GUI Interface to Test::* scripts by chromatic (Archbishop) on Jun 09, 2005 at 17:33 UTC
Yes, that's exactly the advantage I had in mind, especially if you use a new enough version of Test::Harness::Straps that can parse diagnostic output.	[reply]
Re: GUI Interface to Test::* scripts by mattr (Curate) on Jun 09, 2005 at 16:06 UTC
I've had nice experience with drawing an annotated bar chart with GD and displaying it in a scrolling window using WxPerl. You will want to be sure to add an idle call in your loop so the window is moveable. Mine came out like this (use magnifier if it looks wierd).	[reply]